Re: 'Indy 4' for May 2008

New flick brings old cars, memories to city

Marissa Yaremich
New Haven Register Staff
07/01/2007

-NEW HAVEN — Already looking picturesque in a fashionably nostalgic sundress, Yale University law student Helen Eenmaa solidified the perfect pose for a 1950s poster when she hopped into a 1957 Chevy Bel Air 210 parked along Chapel Street before being featured in a scene of the new "Indiana Jones" film.

"Except in (auto show) exhibitions, we haven’t seen such cars," said the 26-year-old Estonia native, as she hopped into the front seat of the turquoise vintage car, draped an arm out the open window and flashed a coquettish smile.

As if on queue, the digital camera captures the moment by the good graces of her equally intrigued friend and fellow law student, Ruslan Dimitriev, 29, of Moscow, Russia.

The Yale duo weren’t alone in their fascination with the dozens of vintage cars lining the streets around the Green as the crew of the highly anticipated Harrison Ford movie took up its third day of filming in New Haven.

Primarily owned by Connecticut residents who will drive them in the movie, set in the 1950s, the vintage cars attracted the general spectators and car buffs alike as though they were on display like an antique car night at a local parking lot or fast-food joint.

"The people are drawn to them like magnets," acknowledged Jim Inglese of North Branford, owner of a black 1940 Ford Standard, as he relaxed between takes with a group of the other car owners.

Other vehicles parked along the Green included a Packard Panama Super Clipper, Chrysler De Soto, Plymouth Savoy and several Chevrolet Bel Airs.

His head briefly disappearing underneath the open hood of the turquoise Bel Air, Bethany resident Harley Hiscock instantly struck up a conversation of memories with other spectators and the car’s owner, Robert A. Gasparri, of Waterbury.

"My first car I bought in 1936. If I had it today, it would be worth a fortune," said Hiscock, 91, noting that he spent $700 on a Chevrolet car, but not the "great" V-6 Bel Air that Gasparri decided to customize with a 400 short block.

Even passers-by in their modern cars slowed down long enough to snap shots of the old models and those nearby drivers dressed in era clothing.

"Hey, that’s one of my students," said Wilbur Cross High School Principal Robert Canelli as a camera turned his way. Canelli will be one of the drivers, along with his uncle Anthony Mongillo, who will drive his own 1958 Ford Fairlane.

Some drivers’ cars also bring rich family history with them, such as the 1952 Crosley Sedan owned by Donna DeLorenzo of North Haven, whose daughter, Amy DeLorenzo, 19, convinced her to pitch to the crew for use.

Although the younger DeLorenzo is still lamenting the fact she can’t drive the car due to her lack of a driver’s license, it will be driven by her brother, Joseph DeLorenzo Jr., 22, who hid a picture and written request in the car when their now deceased father sold it 11 years ago.

Hoping to get the car back, he asked the English owner to contact the family should it ever be sold again and brought back overseas

"I got a call one morning from England saying it was coming back to Connecticut," said Donna DeLorenzo, adding that her husband bought it back in October 2003.

Up the street, vintage car and sign enthusiast Jim Fellows, 52, of Middletown, ventured to the Elm City for a day sight seeing trip with his girlfriend, Lindsay Ruppel, 44, of Roxbury, both walking away impressed by the convincing nostalgia of the altered shop fronts and antique wheels.

"This one looks like they made it, but the (S. Malatesta & Sons moving truck) looks like it was put in a garage for 50 years," said Fellow, comparing it to a freshly painted truck.

According to Michael Pacella of Derby, whose 1956 Chevy Bel Air will be filmed, the weathered look on the cars’ exteriors comes from a industry concoction of water and talcum powder to achieve the desired affect of the fall season the movie will portray.

The vintage look wasn’t lost on the new era of potential Indiana Jones fans, like Zachary Wirth, 4, of Shelton, who looked in confusion from his stroller at an old Harley Davidson as his father attempted to explain that the metal attachments meant the bike would be attached to a car for stunts.

"On what car?" Zachary asked, peeking out of a pair of binoculars for the elusive vehicle.

Re: 'Indy 4' for May 2008

NEW HAVEN — While Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are the household names, not much about "Indiana Jones" would happen without producer Frank Marshall.

He's brought to the big screen some of the biggest movies of the last 35 years, including the three "Back to the Future" films, "The Sixth Sense," the "Bourne" series ("The Bourne Ultimatum" comes out next month) and "Seabiscuit."

For the last week, he's been working on his fourth "Indiana Jones" movie, and as the crew wrapped up the New Haven segment Tuesday, Marshall said the city was a terrific host.

"It's been fantastic. We have a very tight schedule and we've been able to pull it off, and that's a great testament to the organization and help we've had.

"We're like a giant circus army that descends on a location," he said, recognizing that closing major downtown arteries and moving bus stops for days at a time has inconvenienced many.

"We like to try to make it as easy as we can, and everybody here has been … amenable to things we've had to do."

The producer's job is to secure financing, hire the crew and in myriad ways "help the director get their vision up on the screen." Marshall said that while he's enjoyed being in New Haven, most of his tasks have been concerned with looking ahead. After shooting a scene Thursday at the Essex Steam Train, the production will move to Hawaii.

But if something unexpected were to come up, such as a rainy day, Marshall has to come up with a plan. "That's why I like to be on the set," he said. "A lot of producers never leave the office."

Marshall's wife, Kathleen Kennedy, who is also a producer and whose professional relationship with director Steven Spielberg goes back to "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" in 1982, is executive producer for "Indiana Jones 4" and has been in New Haven, too.

Marshall said the state's 30 percent business tax credit had a lot to do with locating the film's chase scene in New Haven, but there were other factors.

"Yale really fit into the requirements we had for the story … and Steven was very familiar with the area," Marshall said.

The juxtaposition of Chapel Street and Old Campus helped, too. "We can run cars here and look up and down the streets and it's period and that's fantastic," he said.

Marshall and Spielberg wanted to shoot the fourth "Indiana Jones" movie in the same style as the first three.

"Steven is very aware of the process and we're not cheating with CG (computer graphics) at all," Marshall said. "It keeps the B movie feel."

New Haven has other advantages locals may not realize, such as the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale being a short walk from the set, which is not the norm.

Marshall said the privacy surrounding the set is "pretty typical." People shooting pictures may not realize that they're capturing a significant plot point. "It's more wanting not to spoil the fun of the movie and surprises in the movie or the look of a person," he said.

But he said he regretted the occasional rough handling of curious onlookers. "I would apologize to anybody who is treated rudely … because that's not how it should be done."

He said he enjoyed the city and was surprised by the variety of cuisines. "We've found there's a lot of great restaurants and (many) seem to be Spanish — a lot of paella, a lot of tapas."

But Marshall and crew didn't eat all their meals at bistros like Barcelona. He also got to try Pepe's pizza.

-NEW HAVEN — Elodie Cinquanta flew all the way from Orsières, Switzerland, to chase her dream. Early Monday morning, that dream came true when she met director Steven Spielberg on High Street.

"We were coming here for that. It is a dream. So we are very happy now," she said.

Cinquanta, 20, and three other fans of Spielberg and "Indiana Jones" are among the throngs of fans who have come downtown to watch the fourth "Indy" movie being filmed. This quartet just traveled a little farther.

Cinquanta, along with Aaron Wilkinson, 21, of Christchurch, New Zealand, Antoni Conteddu, 26, of Bologna, Italy, and Fred China, 26, of Lyon, France, also met co-star Shia LaBeouf, but it was the director they really came to see.

They are the kind of fans who are really more interested in the director than the star, the kind who love Spielberg's movies because, for the most part, he doesn't rely on computer-generated imagery (CGI), but on real sets and real acting.

"CGI is a bad thing for movies. It's not magic," said China as the group had breakfast Monday at Atticus Bookstore and Café, up the street from where the movie was filming.

It's "not artistic — all computer," added Cinquanta.

"The movies from the '80s produced by Spielberg … all have a good feeling," Conteddu said. "This kind of feeling is lost nowadays. It's all about money and box office."

You can have "Lord of the Rings," even though it was filmed in New Zealand. Give them "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," the movie Spielberg directed after "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and "The Goonies," which Spielberg wrote and produced.

The four, who knew of each other from Internet fan forums but met for the first time when they arrived here, range in their devotion. Wilkinson traveled the farthest and is an "Indiana Jones" fan, but said he is "just sort of tagging along." An unexpected leap in a stock he owns gave him the opportunity to take a vacation from his meteorology job.

China, a Web designer, is a collector of "Goonies" and "Indiana Jones" memorabilia and is creating a Harrison Ford Web site in French. He wears an Indiana Jones costume that cost him almost $2,000. The hat is a genuine Herbert Johnson fedora.

"I went to San Francisco just to buy the shoes" while heading to the "Goonies" set in Oregon, he said.

Conteddu's MySpace page tells his story: Wannabeonindy4. "My first goal was to be an extra in the movie," he said. He couldn't get a work visa, but he came anyway.

"It was a good chance to meet new people, see the United States and see what kind of work or activities a movie requires. … I love cinema."

Conteddu wasn't with the others when they ran into Spielberg, and he wasn't happy to learn he missed out. "I'm not so obsessed about meeting the stars, but it's so bad to know they had the chance to spend a minute …"

"Five minutes!" said Wilkinson. The others were sympathetic to Conteddu but thrilled that Spielberg signed their T-shirts, drawings and other stuff. "To Elodie, thank you for your art!" Spielberg wrote on her portrait of him.

"He took his time for us. He was very nice," said Cinquanta.

All four spoke highly of people they've met in Connecticut. Conteddu said New Haven reminded him of Bologna.

"It has a similar feeling … because Bologna too is a university city so it's full of young people and old buildings."

A couple of things surprised them, though. Not having cars, they haven't gotten outside the central city, so they haven't seen a McDonald's yet. But one thing they did see that they didn't expect: a raccoon.

Re: 'Indy 4' for May 2008

NEW HAVEN — "Indiana Jones" has left town, but merchants in the Broadway district are hoping to prolong the movie magic with a "Hollywood Block Party" from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Yale’s University Properties, which is landlord to many downtown shops and restaurants, is working with the Broadway Merchants Association for the event.

"We wanted to be able to capitalize on all the excitement of the ("Indiana Jones") movie and continue to draw people downtown," said Shana Noelle Schneider, marketing director for University Properties, Yale’s commercial real estate division.

During the filming of the fourth installment of the popular movie series, which brought star Harrison Ford and director Steven Spielberg to the Elm City, many retailers and restaurateurs lost business as a result of road closures. Stores on part of Chapel Street, which were made over to look like a scene from the 1950s, were compensated for the losses by Paramount Pictures, but stores in other parts of the city were not.

"We recognize that there were difficulties with the street closings," Schneider said, and today’s event is intended to boost merchants’ bottom lines.

Restaurants and retailers will hold a variety of movie-theme specials and promotions throughout the day. While they are shopping, visitors who are at least 18 years old can sign up to be an extra or a production assistant for upcoming movies filming in New Haven.

Stores on York Street and Broadway will offer discounts on certain items all day.

Participating shops are Wish List, Paul Richard’s and J. Press, which are on York Street, as well as Broadway’s Urban Outfitters, J. Crew, Laila Rowe, Thom Brown and Origins. Also, Yorkside Pizza on York Street and Cosi on Broadway will offer dining specials from noon to 5 p.m.

Among other events, radio station KC101 will hold a celebrity look-alike contest from 4 to 5 p.m. on Broadway.

Re: 'Indy 4' for May 2008

Some residents to be in movie as filming on the Big Isle moved up to mid-July

by John BurnettTribune-Herald Staff WriterSunday July 1, 2007

At least one area casting call has taken place for the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones adventure films.

Tim Ryan, executive editor of Hawaii Film & Video Magazine, reported Wednesday in his blog, "Tim Ryan's Reel Hawaii," that Laura Bollinger of Big Island Casting in Kona held a recent casting call through the Hawaii offices of the Screen Actors Guild seeking "Eastern European military-looking males for an action sequence to be shot in Hilo 'in mid-July' for Indy."

One of the opening sequences of the film will have the archaeologist/adventurer Jones, played by Harrison Ford, in a fight sequence with Russian soldiers, Ryan wrote -- a scenario reminiscent of the video game "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine."

That would also be consistent with a blog entry on Movieweb.com by a "CLReif 87," who wrote that her husband, a soldier, whom she described as "a blonde hair, blue eyed, tall, bulky guy -- like the Mad Russian in the Rocky movies (Dolph Lundgren)" -- and six Army mates were extras on the set when filming opened in Deming, N.M., which was festooned to resemble Morocco in the mid-20th century.

Bollinger confirmed the union casting call to the Tribune-Herald on Thursday, saying "I still have a few parts to cast." She declined to elaborate, referring the HTH to the production office in Hilo, which also refused comment.

Unit publicist Deb Wuliger said Saturday that the mid-July time frame for local filming is correct, but that open casting calls for extras "are not in the plan as far as I know."

The film, directed by Steven Spielberg with George Lucas as executive director, is as yet untitled, but the Las Cruces, N.M., Sun-News has reported that the working title is "Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods."

Filming has wrapped in New Mexico and is currently going on in New Haven, Conn., where College Street, according to the New Haven Independent, was decorated to turn the clock back a half-century, with parking meters removed, streetlights changed and street signs changed to turn New Haven into Bedford and Yale University into Marshall College. Vintage cars from 1945 to '55 were brought in, and the stunt doubles and extras filming a chase scene there Thursday were costumed in the clothes of the period.

One stunt double reportedly fell off a motorcycle during a chase scene. It is not known whether the tumble was intentional, but according to New Haven Fire Chief Michael Grant, the man was taken to the hospital "cut up" and "semi-conscious."

Ford, meanwhile, was in Yale's William L. Harkness Hall for a lecture scene. Other confirmed credited cast members are Cate Blanchett, John Hurt, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent and Shia LaBeouf.

Re: 'Indy 4' for May 2008

Action! The director has landed! Stephen Spielberg arrived in a private jet yesterday Sunday, 7/8, to begin filming as early as Wednesday 7/11 on – code name - The Untitled Genre Project in “a deep heavy bush location” mauka of Hilo town. Spielberg and company are scouting today 7/9 and the actors will rehearse only tomorrow 7/10 before day one filming begins…

The Untitled Genre Project is the Indiana Jones IV sequel. Producer Frank Marshall confirmed as much in an interview last week with the New Haven Registersaying that following filming in New Haven, Conn., the production moves to Hawaii then Los Angeles. Marshall also said Connecticut’s 30-percent business tax credit had a lot to do with the production filming in New Haven. The production spent between $8 million and $9 million in the New Haven area during the June 28 to July 7 filming, Marshall said…FYI: Harrison Ford - turns 65 on Friday the 13th…

The production has rented production equipment from Oahu including grip trucks, and hair-and-makeup and wardrobe trailers…Though Big Island filming for Indy IV originally was two weeks, it looks like another week has been added, sources said…The production has reserved 300 rooms in and around Hilo, including at the Hilo Hawaiian, Naniloa Volcanoes Resort and most smaller hotels…High end homes for the major actors and production executives have been very difficult to find on the Hilo side…Of the 300 cast, crew, executives and other workers on the Big Island for Indy IV only about 20 are local…

Indy IV’s unit publicist Deb Wuliger served the same job on Spielberg’s War of the World (2005)…

Re: 'Indy 4' for May 2008

Giants of American cinema arrive in East Hawaii for newest Indiana Jones film

Tribune-Herald StaffTuesday, July 10, 2007 10:26 AM HST

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, two of the biggest names in Hollywood, quietly touched down in Hilo on Monday to work on the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

The two landed just after 4:30 p.m. at the old Hilo airport. They arrived separately in private jets amid tight security. They were given lei and were quickly escorted into different vehicles before leaving the airport for undisclosed locations.

Spielberg is directing the film, which will once again feature actor Harrison Ford as the wisecracking, whip-snapping Indiana Jones. Lucas is co-executive producer and co-writer.

The movie, which reportedly has been given the working title "Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods," is scheduled to be released in 2008.

Part of the film is being shot at various locations around East Hawaii, including an undisclosed waterfall on the Hamakua Coast and on a secluded piece of Shipman Estate property near Keaau, sources have told the Tribune-Herald. Filming is expected to take about three weeks.

Members of the film crew reportedly are staying at various East Hawaii hotels, including the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.

The Indiana Jones films began in 1981 with the release of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." That and subsequent installments are some of the highest-grossing films in movie history.

Re: 'Indy 4' for May 2008

HILO, Hawaii -- The fourth "Indiana Jones" movie began filming on the Big Island this week with Hollywood powerhouses Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

The movie, which hasn't been named yet, will be filming over the next three weeks along the Hamakua Coast north of Hilo. Other scenes have been shot in New Haven, Conn.

Studio officials aren't talking about the movie's Big Island invasion or even revealing the title, rumored to be "Indiana Jones and the City of Gods" or simply "Indiana Jones IV."

"They're insisting on using 'The Untitled Genre Project' as a title, putting us in an awkward position," said Donne Dawson, Hawaii's film commissioner who confirmed the production's presence on the Big Island.

The film, 18 years after release of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," will again feature Ford as the wisecracking, whip-snapping adventurer. The first Indiana Jones movie, "Raiders of the Lost Arc," started filming in 1980.

Spielberg is directing the movie, as he did the first three films of the franchise. The producer is Frank Marshall and the executive producer is Kathleen Kennedy.

The movie started production in Deming, N.M., and it will be distributed by Paramount Pictures for an expected May 2008 release. Its budget is reported to be $125 million.

Shooting is scheduled at several Big Island spots, including a waterfall near the coast and a secluded piece of Shipman Estate property near Keaau.

Spielberg's company, DreamWorks, also is filming "Tropic Thunder" on Kauai.

Ben Stiller stars in the $100 million comedy about actors in a war movie who unexpectedly face real fighting.

Other actors cast in the new "Indiana Jones" movie include Shia LeBeouf, Cate Blanchet, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt and Ray Winstone. It wasn't clear how many of them would be on the Big Island for filming.

Spielberg has filmed a few other hits in Hawaii, including "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Jurassic Park," "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic Park III."